20 Great Image-Editing Apps for Mac and iOS

One name dominates digital photo editing, and that’s Adobe. Its flagship Photoshop software is the industry standard — it’s used to help make this very website — but unfortunately now requires a cumbersome monthly or annual subscription to "own." Happily, there are alternative applications that won’t break the bank and that can do everything the photography enthusiast could ever need. The following is an overview of your top options for Mac and iOS, including a few that won't cost you a dime.

Apple's venerable pro photography solution Aperture ($79.99, Mac) will soon fade to black in favor of an all-new Photos app, but it's still one of the best ways to organize and non-destructively edit RAW, JPEG, or TIFF images on the desktop. The latest version 3.6 added support for OS X Yosemite, and built-in iCloud support makes it easy to share your favorite photos and keep them synced with iOS devices. There are also quite a lot of plug-ins still available for Aperture, and the unified library means users can jump over to iPhoto without missing a beat whenever the mood strikes.

If you don't need the complete control (and occasional complexity) of Aperture, iPhoto (free, Mac) gets the job done quite well in just a few clicks of the mouse. Although it will soon be replaced by an all-new Photos app, iPhoto's auto-enhance tool makes any photo look great in a single click, and the unified library means you can jump into Aperture to make pro corrections, then right back into iPhoto. There's also rich Facebook integration and iCloud Photo Sharing available, but those who prefer print can create some pretty awesome photo books and letterpress cards as well. And did we mention it's absolutely free?

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 ($149, Mac) has been working overtime in recent months to become a home for orphaned Aperture users, thanks to a built-in migration tool that makes it easy to switch. Smart Previews allow users to edit low-resolution files on the go and have changes automatically applied to original images when an external drive is mounted, along with pro tools like Advanced Healing Brush, Upright, and Radial Gradient borrowed from the more expensive Photoshop. Creative Cloud members ($9.99 per month and up) can also sync Lightroom 5 images with a mobile app, putting the most-used image editing tools in the palm of your hands.

Like iPhoto, Photoshop Elements 13 ($99.99, Mac) is for users who want Aperture or Lightroom-style results in just a few clicks. The latest version makes it easy to create photo remixes or mashups, pick the best composition, and offers more comprehensive selection tools while offering five variants for each effect you want to apply. Facebook junkies will love the app's profile and cover photo creation options, while Guided Edits and Slideshows have been improved and Elements Live delivers creative ideas, tips, tricks, and help without having to leave the software.

Pixelmator 3.3 ($29.99, Mac) delivers Photoshop-class tools in a package only a fraction of the price, including powerful, pixel-accurate selection tools, top-notch painting, drawing, and retouching options, more than 160 effects, and an elegant collection of professional-grade color correction tools. The latest version adds complete support for OS X Yosemite (including Handoff and iCloud Drive), and also works hand-in-hand with Pixelmator for iPad for seamlessly creating and editing images on the go, while retaining the option to further enhance them back on the desktop. Best of all, there's full support for layered Photoshop PSD files, and images can even be imported from iPhoto or Aperture.

If your photo editing needs lean more toward restoration or retouching, Snapheal 2.5 ($19.99, Mac) provides a deliriously simple UI with the ability to remove unwanted objects like magic, or adjust shadows and highlights on dark or overexposed images. With Snapheal Pro ($39.99 or $19.99 upgrade), the application can even be run as a plug-in inside Photoshop, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, or Aperture, adding improved image editing algorithms and a Blur brush with selective masking.

Capture One 7 ($49.50 for Express/$299 for Pro, Mac) is the offering from Phase One, a manufacturer of remarkably expensive medium-format digital cameras. Its software also works with consumer models, though, and Capture One Express is the cheaper option. It claims to have a particularly fast workflow coupled with the best image quality of all editing software, but Aperture and Lightroom don’t trail too far behind.

DxO Optics Pro ($99 for Standard/$199 for Elite, Mac) has a rather scientific approach to image editing, and its selling point is that it claims to correct the flaws introduced to images by camera lenses better than other software.

GIMP (Free, Mac) is completely free, and more like Photoshop Elements in Expert mode than any of the others. In the past, it suffered from poor documentation and an unintuitive layout, but now has built-in help, a downloadable manual, online tutorials, and a customizable interface. The Mac version of the app even comes bundled with a raw-image-processing plugin. Get started on GIMP with this guide!

Sometimes, all that's needed to make a good photo great is throwing on a filter or two. Tiffen Dfx 4 ($129.99, Mac) simulates the look of more than 2,000 award-winning glass filters, delivering 134 digital equivalents and more presets than you can shake a stick at. The latest version adds borders, cartoon, and colorize gradient options, curves and selective detail adjustments, the ability to add grunge effects like film dirt, hair, stains, and scratches, and subtle new Pearlescent and Satin looks created especially with modern digital camera sensors in mind. Tiffen also offers Dfx in Photo Plug-in ($149.95, for Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, and Aperture) or Video/Film Plug-in ($499.95, for After Effects, Premiere Pro, Avid, and Final Cut Pro) versions.

The desktop power of Photoshop comes to smartphones and tablets with Adobe Photoshop Mix (free, iOS), a non-destructive photo enhancement app that makes it drop-dead simple to cut objects out of images and combine them with other elements. There are also plenty of great looks on hand which can be applied to selections or entire images, and users can open Photoshop documents, individual PSD layers, or even photos from Lightroom Mobile. A free Creative Cloud membership is required to use Photoshop Mix; the latest 1.4.1 version adds smart auto crop technology for the iPad, as well as iOS 8 Touch Size support for more precise finger selections.

Thanks to the arrival of iOS 8 extensions, Camera+ 6.1 ($2.99, iOS) just became an iPhoneographer's best friend. No longer do users have to open the app and import an image to apply the awesome Clarity filter — once enabled, it's right there in the built-in Photos app, alongside all of the app's other awesome image editing options. Of course, if you don't use Apple's Camera app, this third-party solution offers a host of other improvements, including a front-facing flash mode for better selfies, touch exposure and focus, and sweet shooting modes like Stabilizer, Timer, and Burst. The latest version also delivers a new Pro quality setting, which processes and stores image in TIFF format with lossless compression.

With complete control over contrast and brightness, and a range of presets to choose from, My Sketch ($1.99, iOS) will convert your shots into convincing pencil and charcoal drawings, complete with realistic imperfections and scribbled edges. You can crop your images before you start work and export at a range of sizes.

Restyle images for a unique textured look on your iPhone or iPad with Etchings 1.7 ($1.99, iOS), which delivers 12 different styles and complete control over line width, color, and styling. With image exports up to 3300 x 3300, users can put the result on a virtual stamp, frame it, or use it elsewhere as a regular drawing. The latest version adds support for iPhone 6, as well as the option to etch images right from the built-in Photos app using iOS 8 extensions.

As with the OS X plug-in, Rays ($0.99, iOS) makes it easy to cast rays of light, which pass through brighter areas and are blocked by darker detail such as window frames or people. You can change the length, color, and opacity of the rays, and the brightness at which they kick in.

Every Mac since the dawn of OS X has come with the Preview application. It doesn’t get much attention, but it contains image-editing tools that shouldn’t be ignored, especially as they come for free. It can import from cameras and scanners directly from its File menu. Its Tools menu can find options to resize your image, rotate and flip it, and even make adjustments to exposure and color. That’s just a start, but be sure to investigate Automator, too, which can do great batch-processing.

You're missing a lot, not just a few, of excellent, some of them better than the ones you mentioned, image processing/generating apps. To define whether an app is good or bad, or select it for a review, you need to define a set of criteria. Those were missing in your article. While PhotoShop is a great app, for most of your readers its beyond their pocketbook. Furthermore, PhotoShop is only truly useful for someone who uses it every day; it's too difficult to use for occasional purposes. Most of us are occasional users of such tools.

Recently I've become very impressed with Iridient Developer. It has been around for a long time. I have just purchased it. It convinced me that I should shoot RAW most of the time. It processes RAW images very well and the tools can recreate virtually any image feel you like. It is, however a tool to "develop" RAW images.

I'm pretty sure that your magazine would do a great service to your readers by reviewing all of these applications and classifting them what they do well for a set of criteria (an extensive set). Also update these reviews periodically. Each month you go after a specific set of evaluation criteria. Involve your readers in defining the evaluation criteria, and the whole review and evaluation process for that matter.